Dooo Is A Nice Todo App For Doers [Review]

Another day, another todo app. There’s a bewildering variety of choice in this category, and newer phones all come with Apple’s own Reminders app, which is capable although not to everyone’s taste.

This one, oddly named DOOO, is nicer than most. For two bucks, it combines a thoughtful approach to feature design with stylish looks and a minimal, simple layout.

DOOO’s primary view is two columns: stuff you need to today, and stuff you should have done yesterday. At the end of each day, the things in your “TODAY” column will automatically leap sideways to the “UNSOLVED” column.

Each item is a little text box. It would be nice if you could simply move these boxes around with your fingers, but that’s not possible. If you wish to move something back from Unsolved to Today, a swipe and a tap on the right icon will do it.

Making a voice recording

Your items can have extra data attached to them, such as a drawing, location, or audio recording. This is quite neat, although the UI can be confusing. To attach a drawing, for example, you must first tap the “More stuff” icon in the bottom-right corner of the main view – this creates a new todo item once you’ve finished drawing.

And if you want to attach a voice recording, you need to tap the Pacman-like icon in the lower left corner, which brings up a recording screen. Your finished recording will be attached to a new todo item. Like everything else in this app, the visual presentation is tasteful and beautiful.

You can’t first create a todo, then attach a drawing, or create a todo, then attach a voice recording. But: you can add an alarm/reminder to an existing task.

To be honest this isn’t a big deal, and once you’ve got to grips with how the app works, it makes sense. It’s just a bit inconsistent, but given the restricted nature of the screen it was designed for, I can see why it was done this way.

More things you can dooo in Dooo

DOOO won’t suit everyone. The tiny boxes are unsuitable for wordy reminders, so you need to keep things brief. Also, there’s not room for a lot of tasks, so if your normal todo list tends to be pages long, this might be inadequate. But the automatic slide from one column to the other is more than a visual trick, it also acts as a gentle nudge: if something has slipped to your Unsolved column, you get the extra nag you need to do something about it.

But, if you’re the sort of person who thrives on short-term deadlines, and likes to sit down at breakfast and write a short list of the most important things you need to do each day, DOOO could be the app you need to start actually doing.